Quotes

I have encountered three quotes this week in my reading--The Death of Adam by Marilynne Robinson--that I think I'll pass on to you today. (If you haven't read her two latest novels, Gilead and Home--the summer is still young. Read them in that order as well. And then read The Death of Adam; it will actually require you to think critically.)

First Quote: From The New England Primer

Defraud not him who hired is,
Your labor to sustain;
And pay him still without delay,
His wages for his pain.
And as you would another man
Against you should proceed,
Do you the same to them again,
If they should stand in need.
Impart your portion to the Poor
In money and in Meat
And send the feeble, fainting Soul
Of that which you do eat.

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Quote Number Two:

"For the poor shall never cease out of the land; therefore, I command thee, saying, 'Thou shalt open thy hand wide unto thy brother, to thy poor, and to thy needy in thy land.'"

:God gives us direction how we are to give in such a case, bountifully and willingly, . . . We may also observe how peremptorily this duty is here enjoined, and how much it is insisted on. It is repeated over and over again, and enjoined in the strongest terms . . . The warning is very strict. God doth not only say, Beware that thou do not actually refuse to give him, but, Beware that thou have not one objecting thought against it, arising from a backwardness to liberality. God warns against the beginnings of uncharitableness in the heart . . . We are particularly required to be kind to the unthankful and the evil, and therein to follow the example of our heavenly Father, who causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust." (Jonathan Edwards)

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Third Quote:
"Here therefore, let us stand fast: our life shall best conform to God's will and the prescriptions of the law when it is in every respect most fruitful for our brethren . . . It is very clear that we keep the commandments not by loving ourselves but by loving God and neighbor; that he lives the best and holiest life who lives and strives for himself as little as he can, and that no one lives in a worse or more evil manner than he who lives and strives for himself alone, and thinks about and seeks only his own advantage. . .
"It is the common habit of mankind that the more closely men are bound together by the ties of kinship, of acquaintance, or of neighborhood, the more responsibilities for one another they share. This does not offend God; for His providence, as it were, leads us to it. But I say, we ought to embrace the whole human race without exception by a single feeling of love; here there is no distinction between barbarian and Greek, worthy and unworthy, friend and enemy, since all are to be contemplated in God, not in themselves. When we turn aside from such contemplation, it is no wonder we become entangled in many errors. Therefore, if we rightly direct our love, we must first turn our eyes not to the man, the sight of whom would more often engender hate than love, but to God who bids us extend to all men the love we bear to him, that this may be an unchanging principle: Whatever the character of the man, we must yet love him because we love God."
John Calvin

"Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth."
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I post these quotes to be sure we understand that the so-called Protestant Work Ethic is rooted in the biblical admonition to "work at" joyfully giving abundantly to those around us in need and those throughout the world in need whether we deem them worthy of help or not. They certainly are more worthy of help to meet their physical needs than we are of the unmerited grace He has lavished on us to the eternal redemption of our souls. He commands us to love our neighbor as He loves us. And He identifies our neighbor as anyone who has a need. If we truly love Him, we will keep His commandments.